Ear syringing on the NHS

[Spidey66]

Also posted in health.
Went swimming a few days ago, and now my ear is blocked. Its painful, im deaf, and it's ringing. I've been putting olive oil drops in it and if anything its worsening.

I've had this before, and whats always sorted it has been syringing.

I went to a minor injuries/walk in yesterday because the pain was getting worse to be told the NHS no longer do syringing. The NICE guidelines now recommend micro suction for blocked ears but this is only done privately. Instead the NHS will refer to audiologists for hearing aids.

Hearing aid referrals for blocked ears? Come again? I'm only deaf for want of a brief intervention!

This is ridiculous!

Should ear syringing or an alternative be available on the NHS? Yabu = no go and pay for it. Yanbu= ear syringing or an alternative should be available on the NHS

I've been having similar problems since my teens. I'm 55. I know by now what does and doesn't work. Drops and olive oil doesn't. Syringing does.

Sometimes we know our own bodies best.

I am 59 with the same issues. Every time I used to be able to get my ears syringed I used to have to listen to the olive oil lecture - even though I had tried olive oil and any number of ear drops repeatedly.

Getting my ears syringed was like getting new hearing. Now no longer available but I got told off by my GP (in the olden days when you could actually see a GP) for doing my own.

I've just paid close to a grand for a root canal, and crown privately, having been advised by my NHS dentists that it was unlikely I could get treatment to save the tooth on the NHS
Cost me £700 for fillings. I couldn’t even get an NHS appointment. NHS dentistry is basically non existent now.

I am sorry but a few days of the drops is not always enough to shift things. The website says 3-4 days. www.otexear.com/range/ear-drops
My GP has also just told me my ear is blocked and to use the drops or get private suction. There is a huge variation in prices so worth shopping around.
GP also said ear wax is particular to people and common so yes I would love someone to pay for my suction - but there are lots of ailments common to people where would the list stop?

@Otherthanetta

YANBU. I have tried olive oil drops several times and it never ever works and I’ve stopped using it because nearly every time I use them I end up with an ear infection to go with my blocked ear. Referral to an audiologist for a hearing aid for a blocked at is so ridiculous it’s almost laughable and shows what a poor state the NHS is in.

IME audiologists will not examine ears for hearing aids if they’re blocked with wax!

It could help if lots of you completed this RNID questionnaire:-

rnid.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/take-action-if-nhs-ear-wax-removal-services-arent-available-in-your-area/

I had the same as OP. Paid £55 at Specsavers. Ear drops just don’t fix it for me.

Here’s a link to an earlier thread.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4245458-in-agony-from-ear-wax-build-up?msgid=108053820#108053820

@mummyh2016

Check your local pharmacy, ours does it for £35 and did it there and then.

Which pharmacy was this 😀

I'm not going to comment on the NHS, I work in the NHS and it's not fit for purpose. It's terrifying.

I've suffered from repeated blocked ears all my life, worsened by swimming if I don't wear my ear plugs. I bought a squeezy bulb irrigation thing, quite literally life changing. I wash them out once a fortnight with warm water in the shower and I've not had blocked ears for months. So much more comfortable than microsuction or syringing. Honestly I can't extol how amazing it is, I used to wake at least once a month with painful blocked ears.

@Spidey66

Oh and of course I understand that treatments change and evolve and that if ear syringing is now not seen as safe it should be replaced with something more up to date and in line with evidence based practice. If micro suctioning is the way forward, it should be offered routinely on the NHS. That's why I said in my OP 'ear syringing or an alternative should be offered.'

This!

@VladmirsPoutine

I think this is a good demostation of how free health care made us lazy.

True. I'd go so far as to suggest that given most people have a knife and a fork and a bottle of vinegar in their kitchens we should also at least try and do surgery on ourselves before resorting to surgeons in hospitals.

🤣🤣🤣

@skodadoda IME audiologists will not examine ears for hearing aids if they’re blocked with wax!

Exactly, I ended up in a vicious circle between the GP surgery and audiology because of ear wax. GP referred me for a hearing aid. Audiology appointment was wasted because the audiologist told me to go back to the GP to get the wax removed. GP wouldn't do anything about the wax and told me to go back to audiology and tell them to do it. And so it went on!

@CorrBlimeyGG

The NHS is expected to offer everything to everyone, no wonder it's struggling.

The NHS is expected to provide essential healthcare, that's far from everything to everyone.

Depends on your definition of essential though doesn’t it?

I pay £30 a month to spec savers for contact lenses that I literally could not function without.

I then spend another £400 every 18 months on new glass (that I need to be able to see all enough to find my contact lens case)

Should the NHS pay for those? Or should I just accept not being able to see? My bad eyesight is no more my fault than someone’s blocked ears, why should they be covered under the NHS when eye sight isn’t?

I know it’s not a race to the bottom but I do find the outrage over paying for basic ear care astonishing when people who need eye care have been shelling out for decades.

@bunnybuggs

This has been the case for so many years (at least the last 5) - so I cannot understand why you are getting so worked up about it. I have difficult shaped ear canal and do my own wax-softening and gentle syringing (believe me as you get older this becomes more of a problem). Some patients are unable to see medical staff face to face for serious problems and you want your ears seen to. YABVVU

It’s varied from area to area. I had mine syringed no more than two years ago at the GP. This time I had to go to Specsavers and pay for micro suction. You’re very dismissive of the deafness, pain, and often dizziness that comes with intractable earwax. We’re not ‘getting so worked up about it.’

I work in the community and up until recently, was providing this service.

It’s really awful to say but we just didn’t have the time. It would take up near to 3 hours on one patient over two visits. Unfortunately, because it is not life threatening l, we had to prioritise patients who were at risk of infection or complications.

I honestly do not think people comprehend how chronically understaffed and financed the NHS is, this is an ongoing problem before covid. Ministers like to gloss over the problem as to not alarm the public but it is just on its knees with no chance of recovery.

I am sad to say, I have just invested in private health care. It is seriously worrying how services are being cut.

@DrWhoNowww
You could say, though, that once you have the glasses, contacts are a luxury. Just being devils advocate there.

Some eyecare is free though....my eye checks are (my brother has glaucoma) and I'm having free treatment for my cataracts.

I’ve had glasses all my life so I’m in the same position, but ear syringing or microsuction carries a significant danger of perforating the ear drum, so as a medical pride cure it really isn’t quite the same as getting glasses, though I appreciate your point. You can also get eye tests and glasses vouchers on the NHS too, if you are in certain categories.

[quote Seasonschange]@aprilinspringtimeshower

Did you miss step 3 of my post? I didn’t say no one should be treated I said where appropriate people should try homecare first.[/quote]
And my point was that this is not what’s happening. GPs have been given “permission” to lump serious chronic ear blockage in with their guidance not to treat as it is a minor issue and loss of equipment/practice at local surgeries. Leaving people like me with serious issues not being taken seriously

I'm prone to ear wax build up every five years or so, has been a recurring problem for 20 years or so. I didn't realise it was because I'm lazy.

I had mine syringed last year at the GP and DD (who has the same issue) had hers done last summer. Our surgery makes you put olive oil in for at least two or three weeks before they'll see you though.

As PP says, "syringing" is what I call it anyway - it's that thing where they squirt the stream of water into your ear and the wax comes out in lovely big lumps (see sporner corner ). The nurse that did it to me last time thanked me as she said she loved doing it and getting a massive big lump out, she was really chuffed with herself for what she got out of mine. [proud]

When I've had blocked ears I use this 1/2 times a day for 3/4 days then use a Lin Acu life water syringe to wash it all out.

www.boots.com/boots-pharmaceuticals-dual-action-ear-wax-remover-10114200

Ear syringing has not been contracted or funded since 2004. Many practices did it out of their own pockets even though they didn't need to. It was always medicolegally risky (one of the largest causes of nurse litigation), time consuming and machines etc frequently broke down.

It was halted in Covid as it can stimulate coughing via a reflex and also because it was lower priority in nursing terms compared to eg smears or childhood imms.

However, given that it's not funded it shouldn't come back. It's the CCG's job to commission it.

Oh, and a mini warning. Expect surgeries to continue cutting back on the non-contacted stuff we've been doing for years.

They might as well pack up and go home for all the use they are. The NHS is finished as far as Im concerned.

Try the otex combi pack, comes with a syringing bulb that has done wonders (in a gross way!) for my daughters blocked ears!

[quote Spidey66]@DrWhoNowww
You could say, though, that once you have the glasses, contacts are a luxury. Just being devils advocate there.

Some eyecare is free though....my eye checks are (my brother has glaucoma) and I'm having free treatment for my cataracts.[/quote]
My contacts aren’t a vanity though, due to the condition I have I need the rigid ones.

My eye checks are free due to this - the treatment is not, in the same way that your ear check was free…the treatment not so much.

My son had water trapped behind wax which had then compacted and he could not hear at all for almost a month, I tried all kinds of ear drops which didn't help and eventually ordered a home wax removal kit from Amazon similar to the link below. After one use all the wax came out and his hearing was restored!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07MDX6NLP/ref=cmswwrcppapiglttfabcACJ41R8N9YXGYF3FGQ1B

[quote Spidey66]BBC News - Why ear wax syringing is no longer free - minister
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54296737[/quote]
"If the build-up of earwax is linked with hearing loss, then the GP practice could consider referring the patient into audiology services."

And audiology will send the patient back to GP to get the wax removed!